Gates: Obama Ignored National Security Team's Advice So He Could 'Be On the Right Side of History'

"The president took the advice of three junior backbenchers."

Fox News is airing a new special Friday evening featuring former Secretary of Defense Robert Gates who will reveal what he considers to be one of President Obama's most egregious mistakes as commander-in-chief.

A preview clip of the upcoming special, "Rising Threats — Shrinking Military," was made available by The Blaze with Gates explaining how the president ignored the advice of his entire team of national security experts and instead listened to three junior officials.

In 2011, Gates was head at the Pentagon during the Egyptian coup and was one of the members of Obama's security team that advised against deposing then-president of Egypt Hosni Mubarak:

Literally, the entire national security team recommended unanimously handling Mubarak differently than we did. And the president took the advice of three junior backbenchers in terms of how to treat Mubarak. One of them saying, "Mr. President, you've got to be on the right side of the history." And I would be sitting there at the table, and I’d say, "Yeah, if we could just figure that out, we’d be a long way ahead."

Against much advice to the contrary, President Obama ordered the immediate removal of Mubarak as president. As a result, the Arab Spring raged on and allowed for the Muslim Brotherhood leader Mohamed Morsi to become president, tossing Egypt into serious turmoil.

Fox's special will air this evening at 10p ET and will focus on how President Obama has "demoralized" the U.S. military and what that means for our national security.